VPNGates provides the following protocols: OpenVPN, SSTP, Socks Proxy and PPTP. Their OpenVPN is the standard utilizing the off the shelf OpenVPN software application. The other protocols are enabled by the OS of your computer as VPNGates does not provide any software of its own. VPNGates has a small network of servers with no server switching. If you want multiple countries, you have to buy multiple plans. This review only covers VPNGates’s Open VPN service.

The standard OpenVPN application does not protect against the dropping of your internet connection and is missing some basic features. VPNGates provides privacy by virtue of being in China but has no privacy policy or TOS. VPNGates is also known as: openvpnservice.com and sstpvpn.com.

• No server switching, if you want multiple countries, you have to buy multiple plans.
• Expensive service when you consider switching country servers
• Software standard OpenVPN with NO features and user un-friendly & inconvenient
• No automation on start up
• No automatic choice of fastest server (lowest latency)
• Dynamic IPs and Static IPs not available
• Does not protect your originating IP if the internet connection fails. All your applications will be switched to your local IP and you may not know it – an OpenVPN problem that is fixed by the better VPN services.
• Poor FAQs
• Does not support IPv6

Full Review

From Order to Installation:

With VPNGates your account is up and running within 24hours of your paying them.

The installation process begins with:

This is the standard OpenVPN software provided by OpenVPN.org, the open source org. VPNGates does not provide any additional software to make this application more useful and with more features.

Then agree to the license agreement (which is the standard OpenVPN license agreement and software found on 90% of the VPN services):

Once you have gone through the installation process, one has to copy and paste the server locations and certificates from the VPNGates support to the configure file:

Finally a file created by VPNGates themselves. Now you have to extract the certificates to your OpenVPN config file.

We are dealing with the simple and standard OpenVPN software package with no VPNGates technology added.

Also beware if you have any OpenVPN products on your computer you need to uninstall them for this version to operate.

Software/GUI:

Your VPNGates application is just a sys tray icon that needs to be opened to connect to a list of servers. It has no other features whatsoever. VPNGates employs the OpenVPN standard application with no modifications. The application is the unmodified OpenVPN format that requires it to be opened with admin permissions (Windows & and Vista), login credentials have to be entered for each launch of the application (no possibility to save password); server has to be chosen for each launch, as in full OpenVPN implementation.

The application in its full glory is just a little red icon in the systray on the right hand bottom of your computer. That’s the application. Click on that and you get your servers.

When you click on the server you want the server connects and turns green, if it’s yellow it’s connecting, red its off. Not much of an application considering 90% of the VPNs have precisely the same thing with no technology adds whatsoever. This has no other features whatsoever. VPNGates employs the OpenVPN standard application with no modifications. The application is the unmodified OpenVPN format that requires it to be opened with admin permissions (Windows & and Vista), login credentials have to be entered for each launch of the application (no possibility to save password); server has to be chosen for each launch, as in full OpenVPN implementation.

Updates: VPNGates provides updates based on OpenVPN.org.

Ease of Use:

As this is the standard OpenVPN application, it is not very user friendly. It cannot be automated for startup of the computer and requires some 5 clicks to start each time. One always has to re-choose the server. If one needs to restart this application a couple of times a day, it’s tiresome.

Features:

VPNGates has the standard features of OpenVPN but has not many application features of its own to the standard OpenVPN configuration. It has no automated features, choice of fast servers or other features that the better VPNs have and this basic OpenVPN application is a nuisance.

VPNGates doesn’t offer dedicated IP option which complicates online shopping and banking as the merchants and third-party payment processers see multiple IPs which will trigger fraud alerts. Also there is no way of knowing in advance which server is currently not available or slow due to its location or current load.

Server Network: Location, Availability & Speed:

This service has a small network with servers in 5 countries: USA, UK, Germany, Netherlands, and Canada. At the site they claim that they have 7 countries but the order now page only has these as listed for OpenVPN. If you want to use multiple servers switching you have to pay for multiple plans which makes this service very expensive.

Initially I connected with the USA server and the ping time for this server was with 10% latency compared to other VPN servers. The UK server was even worse with higher latency. The VPNGates servers are overused and provide too much latency for most users.

Presale Support to Product Help & Support:

Presale support and Post-sale support is done by email. VPNGates generally replies in a few hours and the responses are complete. Cheney, the manager seems to answer all emails which makes you wonder if this is a one man show.

Scope of Protection:

Protocols:

Utilizing standard VPN protocols, VPNGates changes your IP, removes packet headers and provides you with a single assigned IP from any of its servers. The dynamically allocated shared IP adds security by making sure your data packets are mixed up with everyone else’s as they exit VPNGates’s servers. VPNGates does not provide you with the choice between Dynamic IP Servers and Static IP servers which is very useful for use with PayPal accounts and Credit Card vendors.

The effectiveness of any VPN provider is dependent on how effective is the encryption. Our independent encryption Test of VPNGates is in process and will be posted here when completed.

Server Security: Pending Test

To be independently tested pending permission from VPNGates.

Privacy:

As this service is located in China, they don’t provide a privacy policy or TOS but unless you commit some misdeed locally, China doesn’t have treaties with any countries with respect to data retention. On the other hand if you are sending confidential business or technical documents, be very careful of servers managed by Chinese providers. If they see anything useful they will pass it on to their government.

VPNGates Review Summary

VPNGates provides the following protocols: OpenVPN, SSTP, Socks Proxy and PPTP. Their OpenVPN is the standard utilizing the off the shelf OpenVPN software application. The other protocols are enabled by the OS of your computer as VPNGates does not provide any software of its own. VPNGates has a small network of servers with no server switching. If you want multi countries, you have to buy multiple plans. This review only covers VPNGates’s Open VPN service.

The standard OpenVPN application does not protect against the dropping of your internet connection and is missing some basic features. VPNGates provides privacy by virtue of being in China but has no privacy policy or TOS. VPNGates is also known as: openvpnservice.com and sstpvpn.com.

VPNGates PROS:

• Good Privacy
• Various Protocols

VPNGates CONS:

• No server switching, if you want multiple countries, you have to buy multiple plans.
• Expensive service when you consider switching country servers
• Software standard OpenVPN with NO features and user un-friendly & inconvenient
• No automation on start up
• No automatic choice of fastest server (lowest latency)
• Dynamic IPs and Static IPs not available
• Does not protect your originating IP if the internet connection fails. All your applications will be switched to your local IP and you may not know it – an OpenVPN problem that is fixed by the better VPN services.
• Poor FAQs
• Does not support IPv6

VPNGates Review3.1785714285714284lana2010-09-05 09:37:14VPNGates has a small network of servers with no server switching. If you want multiple countries, you have to buy multiple plans. Does VPNGates offer the best VPN accounts on the market? The only independent Best VPN Reviews site tests and reviews all paid and free VPN providers.

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If you have a billing issue with one of our suppliers, such as VPN Gates, you can either contact us US toll free on our order inquiry hotline: 1-877 865 7746, or open a support ticket: https://www.dalpay.com/billing_info.html

Do not use VPNGates if you are a. In the U.A.E. b. Happy to loose you $40 subsrciption! I signed up and had constant connectivity problems, the support was eratic and delayed and they never really got it to work. Whe I asked for a refund thay had the cheek to say I only had one month of my subscription left and would only give me $10. Naturally they have now gone silent and today I get this :

They are very happy to take your money but dreadful at resolving problems or refunding your money when the system doesn’t work. SO if they are that desperate and don’t have a conscience they can keep the $40 and I will now make it a mission to tell everyone how dreadful they are

Be careful using this I just had something strange happen to VPN4ALL
My VPN4ALL was connected for a couple of hours when I noticed something strange with my firewall (comodo)
it showed that VPN4ALL wasn’t using any band width yet my browser and music player was so I went to a couple of websites that check my IP and sure enough my IP and not VPN4ALL showed up.
The VPN4ALL icon was clearly green and when I clicked on it it also showed it was connected? I shutdown VPN4ALL restarted it and now all traffic is going through VPN4ALL and my IP shows up VPN4ALL when checking my IP on different websites
I dont know if it was just a fluke but if you are using this VPN (or any VPN) I would check my IP before and after you hook up to make you are truly hooked up

The recent revelation that the National Security Agency was able to eavesdrop on the communications of Google and Yahoo users without breaking into either company’s data centers sounded like something pulled from a Robert Ludlum spy thriller. How on earth, the companies asked, did the N.S.A. get their data without their knowing about it? The most likely answer is a modern spin on a century-old eavesdropping tradition.